No Kidding?

I honestly didn't anticipate 40 people or so to show up at the Save the White Hen meeting last night, and I certainly didn't expect the mayor to show. The article in The Daily News didn't make it clear why he was there, other than to play devil's advocate, but I credit him for attending.

I, frankly, did not.

I had a number of reasons not to go, but honestly I also couldn't see myself dedicating time and effort to saving a commercial enterprise, even one that I think is as necessary as the White Hen. But many others obviously felt differently. In hindsight, I was wrong and they were right.

So, what's next? As the article pointed out, CVS no doubt is anticipating the boycott and knows it can ride out any trouble. Plus, it's the only 24-hour pharmacy in the area, so it serves a vital function. I can't see it caving on those grounds alone.

To be honest, I don't really fault CVS entirely. Perhaps I should, but Newburyport Development put the White Hen's neck on the chopping block. They should have known this would be a problem for the locals and simply said no for the sake of diversity of service. I refuse to believe CVS would leave such a lucrative site, which draws heavily from Newbury as well as Newburyport.

So where are we now? I don't know how to stop this from happening. (Post any ideas here.)

But at least we know this: Newburyport Development has put residents on notice that their input isn't welcome and their immediate commercial needs aren't all that important.

So I give a hearty Newburyport Posts welcome to the first issue of the fall campaign.